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Bird Drawings

Since 1991 Sri Chinmoy has drawn nearly 16,000,000 soul-bird drawings

Gallery of Crayon Birds
Sri Chinmoy Gallery

Sri Chinmoy has also completed nearly sixteen million bird drawings begun on 29 December 1991 in Malta. They are lyrical studies of

soul-birds hovering alone or in harmonious groups in an inner sky. Using a wealth of coloured pens and markers and with just a few deft movements, Sri Chinmoy sketches full-bodied images rich in vigour, personality and charm. The ink strokes are those of a master hand, delicate yet confident, spontaneous yet substantive. They are a flickering combination of convex and concave marks, a pure language that rolls off the pen with ease.

Despite his speed and economy of line, Sri Chinmoy always maintains the integrity and balance of each form. As with the Zen monk painters, the moment of insight is rapidly brushed and never retouched. He does not strive for representational detail, but rather for the essence of the aspiring consciousness of the soul. The space the birds inhabit is psychic, not physical.

Multiple bird drawing

Sri Chinmoy alludes to the soul not only in his art work, but also in his writings. It is the soul of man that connects the finite self with the infinite Self, the mortal with the immortal, the earthly with the divine. For millennia the bird image has appeared in both Eastern and Western art as Heaven-sent, as the muse of inspiration and as the link between the celestial and terrestrial realms.

Also featured are intricate mosaics of minute and gently coloured birds numbering nearly 100,000 in a single work. These avian landscapes recall the concentrated patience and intensity of ancient religious manuscripts and be-jewelled, polyphonic paintings. As sacred prayer panels, they are a portal into the inner creative source, self-generating and self-sustaining. Each bird sounds a note simultaneously in an orchestral outpouring. They are the infinite symphony of the soul that awakens the eternal cry for freedom in each human heart.

Millions of Birds

5 January 1994
1 April 1994
16 July 1994
11 June 1995
19 July 1996
23 March 1997
28 March 1997
24 December 1997
15 January 1998
25 September 1999
25 January 2000
30 May 2001
19 July 2001
1 December 2002
9 June 2004

Sri Chinmoy completes one million soul-bird drawings
Completes two million Soul Bird drawings
Completes three million Soul Bird drawings
Completes four million Soul Bird drawings
Completes five million Soul Bird drawings
Completes six million Soul Bird drawings
Completes seven million Soul Bird drawings in 51⁄2 days
Completes eight million Soul Bird drawings
Completes nine million Soul Bird drawings
Completes ten million Soul Bird drawings
Completes eleven million Soul Bird drawings
Completes twelve million Soul Bird drawings
Completes thirteen million Soul Bird drawingss
Completes fourteen million Soul Bird drawings
Completes fifteen million Soul Bird drawings

page created by Sri Chinmoy Art — last modified 2008-01-05 04:27 PM

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Bird Drawings